Jun 19, 2017 - A day at sea

We got a pleasant surprise when we arrived in Athens last Saturday, we had jumped straight from Gold, passing Ruby and had reached Platinum status with Princess Cruises. So we now each have some internet hours during the course of the last week of our cruise. Our second visit to Athens on Saturday was hot and humid and we didn't bother going ashore to explore more than we'd seen a week before, rather we got our laundry done! While docked in Athens we said goodbye to about 2,500 passengers and gained 2,500 new faces. Our ship is again...

Jun 15, 2017 - Rhodes and more

Monday saw Ron and I paying another visit to Kotor in Montanegro, perhaps the most idilic port and general location of our whole journey on our ship so far. This time we sailed by little boat to a small island in the bay with a tiny historic church called Our Lady of the Rock. Afterwards we paid a visit to a village on the coast of the bay before heading back to Kotor and our tender back to the ship. Monday was an "at sea" day and nice and relaxing with room service at 9 am followed by brunch around 10 ish.  Then lunch in Club Class dining...

Jun 12, 2017 - More ancient sites

Tuesday 6 June Left Athens at midday after completing some provisioning. Headed for Aegina – attempted anchoring on the south west side but the holding was absolutely awful – we just couldn’t dig the anchor in. So headed for the mainland and anchored off Epidavros. Very nice spot and good holding. Wednesday 7 June Went ashore in the afternoon and found a lovely little taverna and had a beer and grilled squid all for 10 Euro’s – unexpectedly cheap - we found Athens extremely expensive especially with the horrible exchange rate. Thursday 8...

Jun 11, 2017 - Week three is under way

The third week of our cruise began yesterday with an opportunity to explore Athens, today our ship has docked outside Olympia for us to spend the morning exploring the ruins. Now just relaxing in a cafe with a coffee and enjoying the view of the Habour and our ship.

Jun 9, 2017 - moving futher east - yipee!

Wednesday 31 May Pretty much a day of staying on aboard completing chores / maintenance /provisioning etc. Thursday 1 June Left the quayside early with a three other boats heading for the canal. There was abit of strong westerly blowing but we were all determined to go through, specially Twins a Belgian registered yacht. Anyway the canal was amazing (shame Gen didn’t see as much as me as we didn’t take down the bimini. Got through formalities pretty quickly and it cost just shy of 200 Euros (we’re 12.45m LOA) for the 35 minute...

Jun 8, 2017 - Crete

Well, we are supposed to have docked somewhere else in Crete and had all our plans based on that but yesterday we were told we were going to Chania about 2 hours west of where we were to have originally gone. Next we were told we were docking at Souda, a naval dockyard 7 kl from Chania. Later they told us we were docking in the old port of Chania instead. This morning were were again told we'd be docking in the naval dockyard which is what actually happened. So, given Chania is much like Corfu I've decided not to visit this town but Ron is...

Jun 8, 2017 - Our last day in Santorini

Through the night we were woken by thunder and lightning, so we were not expecting a lot from our last day. After we packed and had left our bags at reception, we took the shuttle up to Fia. We then caught the bus to Pygros which is the highest town of the island (not far from the Monastery and the mountain side we climbed). The day was cloudy with threatening rain and we had only just found a place for brunch when the skies opened and it poured. Our food was delightful so we took our time and the rain had cleared by the time we...

Jun 7, 2017 - Relaxing day at Fia

After not sleeping that well due to indigestion, (my own fault, eating way too much at a late hour!), we had already decided this was to be a chill out, sleep in and do nothing kind of day. We were planning though to see the famous sunset later. Unfortunately the weather was deciding otherwise for us. After a week of beautiful fine clear days, the day deteriorated to clouds and even light rain. There goes the day at the local beach. We "hung out" instead by the hotel pool which wasn't a bad thing at all. It was a good day to recharge the...

Jun 7, 2017 - Greetings from Greece

Since Genoa we've visited Rome and seen the Trevi Fountain, Venice Sq, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and visited the Vatican. After Rome we called in to Sicily and toured the old town of Taomina. Yesterday we visited Kotor in Montanegro where we travelled up the mountains to the old capital of Cetinje and today we're enjoying Corfu. Tomorrow more of Greece with a visit to Crete before heading on to Mykonos. All going great so far and meeting lots of people. Approx 40% of the passengers on our ship are from Australia.

Jun 6, 2017 - Fia to Oia and back again

This morning we got a reasonably early start as we had decided to walk from Fia to Oia which is along the island Caldera or crater rim. Tjis is about 10km long and has wonderful views the whole way. Hey Tones and I can do this in a breeze, considering the walking we did in Italy. We got underway about 9.15..it would have been nice to be earlier but the first shuttle to Fia only leaves our hotel at 8.30am and today they were late hence the later start. It was already quite warm but there was a welcome breeze as we walked. The views were...

Jun 5, 2017 - Fia, Santorini

After a slower start this morning we took the hotel shuttle back into Fia. I was looking forward to the cooking class that Toni had booked us into this afternoon. After finding a cafe and having a delicious breakfast of crepes and coffee we were fueled up, and ready to hit the streets. This morning we were going to find the cable car and ride it down to the old port. Once located the ride only took a few minutes. It did give us again some picturesque views as we traveled down. We spent about an hour wandering around the few shops at the...

Jun 4, 2017 - Fia, Santorini

This morning we packed up and were ready to catch the public bus to our last place we are staying which is not far from Fia. Both of us did not get a great sleep as there was a big electrical storm and it was very humid. Then this morning being a Sunday the church bells were ringing very early. The drive on the bus was lovely, a very nice bus and the views were spectacular We arrived at Fia and Toni had arranged a pick-up from the bus-stop to take us the 2 kms to our hotel, Porto Castelo. I swear the driver of the mini van thinks he's in...